Three days into 2026 Americans woke up to breaking news that the country was at war.
As the world slept, the U.S. dropped bombs in the middle of Caracas, captured a sleazy dictator and his wife, and declared that Washington would henceforth “run” Venezuela and appropriate its oil fields.
From Mar-a-Largo, Donald Trump bragged on Saturday about the unprovoked warfare they launched unilaterally on a sovereign nation to commandeer it for ExxonMobil, Chevron, and other U.S. oil conglomerates.
All the shifting Trumpian justifications for lawlessly blowing up alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and ordering a large-scale military attack on Venezuela’s capital city to topple a “bad hombre” were simply cover for seizing the spoils of an oil-rich South American country.
We have been dragged into another ill-defined, open-ended war on a ruse. Shades of Iraq, 2003. Back then the pretext was WMD’s or phantom Iraqi “weapons of war.” A “shock and awe” military campaign in Baghdad followed to overthrow another brutal dictator with another open-ended “nation-building” disaster that cost the U.S. dearly in blood and treasure. Over 4,400 U.S. soldiers died in the conflict with a price tag in the trillions. American troops are still there. But at least Halliburton, a massive U.S. oil service corporation, walked away with billions in profits.
It is déjà vu all over again in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. But there is one significant difference.
In a grave abuse of power, (and defiance of the U.S. Constitution) Trump secretly took the U.S. to war on his own. Without congressional approval — or even knowledge. Without buy-in from the public.
He acted without any checks or balances on his illegal use of military force to compel regime change, take Venezuelan oil and, as he repeatedly vowed, run the country indefinitely.
He threatened sovereign nations in the region with similar action if they did not genuflect to him and insisted he was “not afraid to put boots on the ground.”
Sorry, what?! Besides a power-hungry president on an empire-expansion kick in the Western Hemisphere and Big Oil on board for big dividends, exactly how are the interests of Main Street, America served by the Trump war on Venezuela?
How has the U.S. military’s months-long buildup near Venezuela, bombing of Caracas and capture of Nicholas Maduro helped over 500,000 Ohioans whose health insurance premiums just went through the roof when ACA tax credits expired in 2025?
How do the billions of tax dollars spent on the U.S invasion/occupation of Venezuela alone, plus the hundreds of billions needed for long-term stabilization and reconstruction, and the estimated trillion for a decade of potentially protracted conflict/insurgency lower the cost of living in Ohio, increase the supply of affordable housing or bring down grocery bills?
Not at all.
How will running Venezuela fix Ohio’s shredded safety net decimated by Trump’s historic funding cuts to support systems like SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, community health services, child welfare, and environmental programs?
Not at all.
How will a war of choice rescue overwhelmed food pantries in the state as more Ohioans lose benefits and go hungry?
Not at all.
“At a time when families here at home are struggling with rising costs, health care bills, and economic uncertainty, Americans should not be asked to take on the burden of governing another country,” said Ohio Democratic U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, of Cleveland.
Did “America First” Trump supporters vote for gratuitous U.S. military conquests in foreign countries at the expense of affordability, health care, and job creation?
Not at all.
As more learn that Venezuela is not, in fact, a major drug trafficker to the U.S. and that Trump pardoned a major drug trafficker to the U.S., the propaganda for going to war in South America may be a hard sell.
Cincinnati Democrat Greg Landsman from Ohio’s 1st congressional district wants to know “what the threats were that could justify military action and putting Americans in harm’s way.”
Other Democrats stressed the suffering of the Venezuelan people under Maduro did not give Trump the right to wage war on Caracas with no clear goals, explanation, or consent from Congress or the public.
Most Republicans in the Ohio congressional delegation — save 7th District Rep. Max Miller — parroted the party line about Maduro being a bad guy who had to go for the good of Venezuela and America.
Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno hailed Trump, of course, for eliminating “a clear and present danger to our nation” despite evidence to the contrary.
Only Miller noted, “History teaches that regime changes imposed from the outside rarely deliver peace, stability, or democracy. America’s role in the world is not to remake nations in our image.”
Scattered protests erupted in Ohio against Trump risking American blood for oil.
Venezuela is chaotic and corrupt but not a demonstrated imminent security threat to the United States.
I suspect protests may spread if Congress sits on its hands as Trump continues to issue direct warnings to Venezuela’s new leader and other heads of state in the hemisphere who get in his way as he eyes more territory to invade and pillage in our name.
What do we get for his saber rattling and war-making besides a rerun of towering costs and grim casualties in a hot mess with no escape? We get Iraq 2.0 and a foreboding new year.
This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal. View the original article.
